Nicky McFadden (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for taking this very important issue. I wish to outline the work of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency. Its objectives are the reduction in the number of crisis pregnancies by the provision of education in awareness and contraception services; the reduction in the number of women with crisis pregnancies who opt for abortion by offering services and supports that make other options more attractive; and the provision of counselling and medical services to provide support for the women who have opted for abortion and for their partners and families.

The Acting Chairman is familiar with Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe. On 14 October the Minister announced that under the Government's programme of rationalisation, the Crisis Pregnancy Agency is to be subsumed into the black hole that is the HSE. That causes me grave concern. The current service level agreement will expire in June 2010. This service has been operating for six years and has been successfully funded by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency in association with the HSE. It offers services to very many women. It is has been a vital service, with an estimated 700 accessing it since its establishment. It offers pregnancy counselling by a professional social worker who can provide information regarding all the available options, social welfare benefits and other rights and entitlements. Help is also available in terms of arranging accommodation for young mothers who require it and offering support to partners. The service at Portiuncula Hospital covers Galway, Roscommon, Longford, Westmeath, north Tipperary and Offaly. The Crisis Pregnancy Agency rents a room adjacent to the hospital from which the small number of staff provide a very comprehensive service.

I seek an assurance from the Minister of State that this vital service will be safeguarded. I am greatly concerned at the prospect of any such important facility being subsumed into the Health Service Executive. In the Athlone-Mullingar region, for example, 50 beds previously dedicated to care of the elderly were taken out of the system at the stroke of a pen. We cannot afford to do without the crisis pregnancy service at Portiuncula Hospital. It would be foolhardy to contemplate such a reversal in view of the significant reduction in the number of teenage pregnancies in the wake of the awareness campaign run by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency. I appeal to the Minister of State to respond favourably rather than offering the usual trite response.